From being selected out of 36,000 competing models to being in the Top 5 of America’s
Top Model, Victoria Henley has made her mark in the modeling industry. She moved on to model
for Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nicole Miller, Macy’s and many other high fashion com-
panies. Henley’s also appeared in editorials for Seventeen Magazine, Nylon, Vogue Italia, Runway
Magazine, Modern Hair and Beauty Australia. And not to mention she’s the CEO of Magnifique
Fashion Shows and serves as a key speaker at Modeling Camp. She’s been inspired by her work to
begin her very own line, the Victoria Henley Collection, which is launching soon and is booked to
model in New York’s Fashion Week. MOI Magazine had the fantastic opportunity to interview this
talented and inspiring model before she took the stage as a model at New Orleans Fashion Week.
MOI: How was the reality TV experience?
A: I don’t think anything can quite can quite compare for how otherworldly it feels to be on a
reality TV show, and after two months of living in that atmosphere, you obviously have to force
yourself to make adjustments, because there is nothing “natural” about being filmed up to 24
hours a day and moving into a house filled with strangers. I had been working as a model for
several years prior to my appearance on the show, so I feel like that prior experience (as well as my
ability to speak in front of the cameras) gave me an advantage, but being the youngest competitor
in the house may have been a disadvantage in some ways because (at that time), I was somewhat
lacking in maturity and life experience. I took everything far too seriously, and looking back, I
wish I had taken more time to enjoy the moment and the sur-reality of the whole experience. Still,
my time on the show has molded my career and helped shape me as a person. I couldn’t be more
grateful to both Tyra Banks and the show’s producers for the massive opportunity for the massive
opportunity they gave me.
MOI: What is something that will always influence you that you experienced from reality TV?
A: Growing up, scripted television series, films, and other forms of scripted entertainment domi-
nated prime time TV, and, when I has in my formative years, reality TV shows were somewhat a
novelty (certainly not the tour-de-force they are today). Funnily enough, ANTM was actually the
very first reality show I ever watched, and when I was about nine years old my cousin (who was
a Ford Model) actually had me watch an episode of the show as a part if one of the twice-weekly
modeling lessons I took from her. After we watched the episode together, she suggested I might
want to be a part of the show someday, to which I quickly replied “No way, that show is for crazy
girls!” (Yes, I’m quite aware of the irony). Some people have described reality television’s meteoric
rise in popularity as “The rapid decline of quality entertainment,” but for the most part, I disagree
on several different levels. I think some reality TV shows have been destructives to the morals
and ethics of people (namely the more impressionable millennials), many young women seem
to try to mimic the behaviors of all the females they see fighting on television (for some reason,
women fighting seems to rake in the high ratings). However, many other programs like American
Idol, Project Runway, and, of course, ANTM have given many aspiring artists the opportunity
to launch their brands and careers. I have also been very grateful to develop synergy and build
working relationships with some of the Real Housewives and Project Runway contestants as well
as many other reality stars, and I honestly never dreamed that the reality TV culture would have
such a substantial influence on my life.
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